---
title: Group Settlement in Western Australia
date: 2026-10-19T12:09:21Z
modified: 2026-10-19T12:13:13Z
permalink: "https://mrdhs.com.au/group-settlement-western-australia/"
type: page
status: publish
excerpt: ""
wpid: 4194
parent: ""
ancestors: []
children: []
timestamp: 2026-10-19T12:13:13Z
tags: []
---

This promotional booklet was published in 1923 by the WA Government Printer. It explains the State Government’s Group Settlement Scheme, which aimed to settle thousands of British migrant and returned-soldier families on cleared forest land in the South-West, with dairying as the main industry. Under the scheme, groups of families worked together to clear and develop adjoining blocks. Each settler was promised a free grant of up to 160 acres, a cottage, and a sustenance allowance while the work was done. Repayments were spread over 30 years.

The booklet describes the first stages of development: temporary huts, tractor clearing, pasture sowing and dairy herds. It also covers schools for settlers’ children and the practical benefits of community life in the bush. It includes figures on progress to late 1923, when 90 groups were established, a list of the foodstuffs WA then imported from the Eastern States, and glowing comments from visiting dignitaries. The final pages reproduce the Member’s Agreement and the Permit to Occupy Block, showing the conditions settlers had to accept. Many settlers later found the reality far harder than this promotional account suggests. The booklet is best read as a record of how the scheme was presented at the time.

_Note: The inclusion of this document in our digital archive is for reference and research purposes only, and the Margaret River & District Historical Society does not necessarily endorse all content, viewpoints, or specific conclusions presented within it._